Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, 'collaboration' I think was the term that you used. These are unwilling collaborators, Senator Brandis, and I hope you will at least acknowledge that. These are collaborators who have been forced to collaborate. There is probably a more diplomatic choice of words than 'collaborators' when you have effectively forced people by law to do so. The CEOs of the telcos of Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, iiNet and so on, all the way down to the start-up end of the spectrum—two pages of signatures—state:

We write as the Chief Executive Officers/Senior Executives of a broad spectrum of Australian telecommunications carriers and carriage service providers (C/CSPs) to seek clarity as to the Government’s stated intention to provide a contribution to the upfront capital expenses that may fall on our industry sector following the anticipated debate and potential passage of the … Bill …

…   …   …

Our request to you is, we believe, relatively simple and reasonable.

It is that the Government provide to industry, the Parliament and the wider community a degree of certainty as to the size of the Government's planned contribution (and the planned methodology for apportioning those funds between C/CSPs of differing types and market shares) in advance of the Bill being debated and potentially passed into law.

My question and their question to you is: under a tight budget circumstance—and I cannot remember a budget cycle in which the budget was not tight, for one reason or another; it is just the way that these things are—what if the minister does not come away with anything like $319 million? What if, in fact, you come away with $50 million, for example, that would go in no way far enough to meet the basic need that was set out by PwC? And we just have to take you on your word that those are the figures. How is this scheme going to work then? On budget day in early May, are we going to be looking back on tonight's debate, with an amount of money that is patently inadequate, and should we not therefore heed the call of the entire telecommunications industry, bar one or two— TPG, interestingly enough, being one of the ones not represented on that list—and pause this debate until you know how you are going to pay for it?